Bottle cooler and dispenser



Dec. 31, 1929. F. M. GRAHAM BOTTLE COOLER AND .DISPENSER Filled Aug. 2, 192e uffi-1 Patented Dec. 31, 1929 PATENT OFFICE FRANK M. GRAHAM, F OTTUMWA, IOWA BOTTLE COOLER AND DISPENSER Application filed August 2, 1926.

The purpose of my invention is to provide a bottle cooler and dispenser ofa simple and inexpensive construction.

` More particularly it is my purpose to provide a device of the kind mentioned whereby bottles containing soft drinks or the like may be conveniently stored, cooled, and handled.

It is a special purpose of my invention to provide a device or this kind having its parts 1o so constructed and arranged as to facilitate the keeping of bottles with Vdifferent flavors or kinds of liquid segregated so that the different kinds may be quickly and easily selectl ed andalsowhereby it is made easy to select and withdraw from the device the cooler bottles, to wit: thosefwhich have been longest in the cooling compartment.

Another object is to provide a device so constructed that in order to withdraw the cooled bottles, it is necessary for the user` to keep putting in bottles for further supply.

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of my device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings,

, in which:

Figure 1 is a top or plan view of a cooling and dispensing device embodying my invention, part-s being broken away.

Figure 2 shows a side elevation of the same. Figure 3 is a detail sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure LLis a similar view taken on line 1 -4 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of one of the troughs for holding bottles; and

Figure 6 is a perspective view of one of the false bottoms or fillers for the bottle slides.

It is well known that a great many liquids such as milk, soda pop, root beer, near beer and so on are put up in bottles. These bottles with their contents should be thoroughly cooled when ready for sale.

In some places the bottles are simply placed in tubs of ice water. Elsewhere they are placed in refrigerators or ice boxes. In a Serial No. 126,400.

few instances there are dispensers of certain kinds. In nearly all of these devices it is difficult for the clerk making the sale to determine which bottles have been thoroughly cooled and which have been only recently put into the storage places. Very often the clerk has to hunt among a considerable number of bottles for the right iavor. There is no special incentive to insure the replenishing of the supply. lThese unsatisfactory conditions I believe will be met by my improved bottle cooling and dispensing apparatus.

In the drawings herewith whereby I have illustrated a form in which my invention may be embodied, I have used the reference numeral 10 to indicate generally a casing which may have a great variety of forms and shapes and which is preferably supported on the legs 11. This casing preferably has its top and bottom walls constructed in such a way as to resist the passage of heat. Such heat insulating structures are common and I will not particularly attempt to describe any one of them.

I find in the manufacture and sale of these devices that the most convenient form for the casing 10 is one which is substantially rectangular in outline and somewhat longer than it is wide. The top of the casing 10 is preferably provided with two spaced transverse fixed members 12 to which are hinged the top members 13, which serve as closure members for what I shall call for convenience the ice compartments.

It will be of course, obvious that the device may be made with one or more of such compartments. These compartments I have indicated generally in the drawings by the reference letters A and B. The ice compartments are separated from the central portion of the casing by means of transverse partitions 14 and 15 preferably made of sheet metal extending downwardly from the Vmembers 12 as shown in Figure 2 and preferably terminatingy short of the bottom of the casing at an appropriate height for permitting circulation of water. The partition members 14 and 15 are provided with openings 16 and 17. Between the partitions 14 and 15 is the cooling chamber C. The partition 15 is preferably somewhat inclined from its upper end away from the nearest end wall of the casing as shown in Figure 3. rl'Che reason for this inclination will be hereinafter more fully explained.

I provide a drain pipe 18 suitably located. In the cooling con'ipart nent C I place a plurality of troughs or bottle slides one f which is illustrated in Figure 5. These trough or slides indicated by the reference characters 20 and 2l in different sizes ach comprises a channel-shaped member with a bottom 20, vertical side walls 20", a vertical end wall 20 and one inclined end wall 20d. The sides and end walls may be provided with openings 22 to allow freer circulation of cold water through the troughs or slides. Across the bottom of the cooling con'iparti'nent C I have preferably placed a number of supporting strips 23 which may have slots for permitting free circulation of water. The supporting strips 23 may be of different sizes and I have shown them in Figure Ll to be of different heights for certain portions of their lengths so that the upper edges of the slide 2O may be flush with the upper edges of the deeper slides 2l. In this connection it may be mentioned that the shallow r. slides 20 are for ordinary pop bottles and the like and the deeper slides 2l are those for near beer botties or other bottles of larger sizes.

It will, of course, be understood that the slides may be of proper depth to conveniently receive and handle any standard sized bottles 1nd that the supporting strips 23 are of such height as to conveniently support the slides These slides 20 and 2l are placed in the cooling compartments C, as illustrated in Figures l and 4, resting on the supporting strips 23 with their inclined walls 2Od adjacent the vertical partition le and vertical end walls 20c adjacent the inclined partition l5.

For more rigidly connecting the parts together, I have preferably provided the slides 20 and 2l except the eXtreme right and left hand ones shown in Figure 4. with outwardly and downwardly turned flanges 25,'at the left hand sides to receive the upper edges of the next slide to the left for thusloeking the Nlides together in a series. Across the central portion of the cooling compartment C I place a removable top member 26. Cover inembers 27 and 28 are hinged to the respective cross members l2 and coact with the removable top member 26.

Resting` on the removable top member 26 is a service rack 29 having the partitions 30. The service rack affords a supply of bottles for replenishing the supply in the cooling chamber and also for affording a display of bottled good-s. rlhe partitions 30 divide the service rack into as many compartments 3l as there are slides in the cooling chamber C.

The advantages of the structure hereinbefore described will be perhaps more clearly brought out by an explanation of the manner in which the device is used.

Ice is put into the compartments A and B. It will be understood that the entire device is lined with water proof material and that the device is filled with cold water. The drain pipe 18 maintains the water level well up on the necks of the bottles 32 and 33. In the use of the device the hinged cover me1nber 28 is lifted and pop bottles, for instance, are inserted one at a time downwardly into the right hand slide 2O shown in Figures 3 and 4. The incoming pop bottle is lowered in the position shown in dotted lines in Figure 3 and strikes the inclined end wall 2()d and is slid downwardly to the right as shown in Figure 3 until it rests upon the bottomof the slide. When the next pop bottle is inserted it pushes the one already in the slide farther into the slide until that particular slide is filled with bottles of one flavor. The next slide is filled with bottles of another flavor and so on. The larger slides 2l are filled with the large bottles.

I preferably provide false bottoms .or fillers 34 such as that shown in Figure 6 which may be placed on the bottoms of the deeper slides 2l to make them of the same dept-h as the slides 21 when they can be used for smaller bottles.

It will, of course, be obvious that the bottles in the slides will be quickly cooled. In selling or dispensing` the bottles, the salesman opens the door 27 and must take out the first bottle or the right hand bottle as shown in Figure 3. It is easy to select the proper flavor from the row of bottles of'that flavor. The bottles of different flavors are thus conveniently kept separated. The salesman bottle put another bottle into the row fromV which one has been sold, in the manner already described. If, however, he shouldfail to do so then when he comes to take the neXt bottle at the right hand row in Figure 3, it is difficult to reach it because the door 27 is narrow and this difficulty will immediately'suggest to the salesman the necessity for reL plenishing the row. After he has taken out two bottles, it is almost impossible to reach the third one and he will have to replenish the supply.

On account of the inclined' end 20l of the slide, it will be seen that when the bottle is fully inserted in the cooling compartment,l

it slides under the top member 26 so that it is not so convenient of access as the end bottle at the opposite end of the slide. Thiscontributes to insuring that the salesman will take the bottle out at the right end of the slide.

t thus follows that the construction is such as to make reasonably certain that the first bottle out will be the first bottle in or the coolest bottle. The arrangement is such as to insure the constant replenishing of the bottles in the cooling chamber.

I have thus provided a bottle cooling and dispensing device which makes it extremely convenient to keep the iiavors separated. It is easy to get at the cooled bottles and it is more convenient to get the bottle which has been cooled the longest. The difficulty of getting the cooled bottles until the row has been refilled insures the keeping of the row refilled.

It will be noted that the wall 15 is slightly slanted or inclined. This is for the purpose of making it difcult to get at any but the 'first bottle in the row until the row has been replenished and shoved tothe right.

The incline of the end wall 20d and its properly adjusted angle is an important factor of this device. The purpose of this incline is to direct the movement of the bottle in a downward and horizontal direction, as it is being inserted into the slide. One edge of the bottle following the incline and the opposite edge in contact with the next bottle in its downward and horizontal movement will push the row of bottles in the slide toward the outlet a distance equal to the width of the bottle being inserted.

Some changes may be made in the details of construction and arrangement of the various parts of my invention without departing from the real spirit and purpose of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims, any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents, which may be reasonably included within their scope.

I claim as my invention:

l. In a device of the class described, a casing having a cooling compartment, a series of bottle slides in said compartment each having a fixed inclined end wall, movable doors above the ends of said slides, a refrigerant compartment communicating with said cooling compartment and means for supporting said slides above the bottom of the cooling compartment.

2'. In a device of the class described, a casing having a cooling compartment, a series of bottle slides in said compartment each having a fixed inclined end wall, movable doors above the ends of said slides, a refrigerant compartment communicating with said cooling compartment, and means for supporting said slides above the bottom of the cooling compartment, said slides having coacting parts for detachably locking them together in series.

' 3. In a device of the class described, a casing having a cooling compartment, a bottle slide arranged in the cooling compartment having a fixed inclined end wall, movable doors above the ends of the slide and a top member above the middle part of the slide, the parts being so arranged that the last bottle inthe row in the slide adjacent to the inclined end of the slide will be'below such4 top member.

4. A bottle cooler comprising a container for a liquid refrigerant and provided with a channeled portion construction to receive a plurality of bottles in an upright'position and maintain the same in a row and a stationary downwardly extending forwardly inclined abutment at the rear end of said channel portion, forming a wedge having such an inclination as to move a bottle forward along the channel as it is inserted axially into the channel, the side walls of said channel portion adjacent the inclined portion being of such a height as to embrace a bottle upon each side during its insertion and prevent lateral displacement.

5. A bottle cooler comprising a container provided with an ice compartment and a plurality of channeled bottle compartments in liquid communication with the ice compartment said bottle compartments being arranged to support the bottles in an upright position and constructed to guide the bottles in a row and downwardly projecting forwardly inclined abutments at the rear of each of said channel portions, forming a wedge having such an inclination as to move a bottle forward along the channel as it is inserted axially into the channel, the side walls of said channel portion adjacent the inclined portion being of such a height as to embrace a bottle upon each side during its insertion and prevent lateral displacement.

6. A bottle cooler comprising a container for a liquid refrigerant and provided with a channel portion constructed to receive a plurality of bottles in an upright position and arranged to guide the same in a row, said container having a delivery opening for the bottles in its top at one end through which the bottles are removed axially and having a receiving opening in its top at the other end of said channel through which the bottles are inserted into said channel axially and a stationary downwardly extending forwardly inclined abutment at the rear end of said channel member, forming a wedge having such an inclination as to move a bottle forward along the channel as it is inserted axially into the channel, the side walls of said channel portion adjacent the inclined portion being of such a height as to embrace a bottle upon each side during its insertion and prevent lateral displacement.

Des Moines, Iowa, July 27, 1926.

FRANK M. GRAHAM. 

